Hello all,
I really apologize if there is a seperate thread that already has addressed this problem, as I think it might be a common one, but I couldn't find it!
I have a 1 year old mixed breed dog (20 lbs) that we've had since she's been a puppy. She's extremely high energy and has always been very excitable. When it comes for "walk time" and the leash comes out, she always jumps up and becomes over the top excited. We've worked with her on this and the expectation is that she needs to "sit" and be calm before the leash goes on. She generally does well with this but you can still tell that she has to try very hard to "contain" herself in regards to her excitement of going for a walk. Other than her overexcitement, she is a very well behaved dog.
We recently adopted a rescue dog who is a 3 year old Golden Retriever/Pyranees cross (70 lbs). He is an extremely calm & well mannered dog and is very smart! He walks very well on the leash BUT also gets way too excited when the leashes come out. We haven't had him for very long so are not sure if this was always the case with him or if he has just developed this habit as he sees our other dog behaving like this. It is my opinion that the two dogs feed off of eachothers energy when it comes time for walks!
My goal is to be able to pull out the leashes, have them both calmly sit while I attach their leashes and get out the door without being jumped up on or being pulled.
This is what I have tried so far:
I always make them sit when I attach their individual leashes but the problem is I can't get them to sit at the same time and if one dog is getting the leash attached, the other one is very "in my face" while I am doing this as they just can't wait for their leash to be attached.
They cannot sit still when I am trying to attach the leashes. They squirm with excitement. I have tried to disengage from attaching the leash and waiting until they calm down before attemping to attach the leash again but it seems like they will do this with me time and time again without associating that they cannot go for a walk unless they are calm when I attach the leash.
I've tried seperating them (putting one in a different room) while attaching the leashes but by that time, they already know its "walk time" and have gotten excited.
I take them for walks at least 2x per day. The first walk is always right before I go to work so its at the same time every morning while the afternoon or evening walks will be staggered in time depending on my schedule. They defintiely "know" what time the morning walk is so by the time I come to get them for the walk, they're already excited. The afternoon or evening walks aren't as bad for excitement as they don't know its walk time until the leashes come out.
I'd also like to mention that once we get past putting on the leashes, the two dogs walk perfectly when we get out of the house... it's just getting to that point that has ben difficult!
Has anyone else had this problem? Please let me know any tips or training methods that have worked with your dogs. I am sure that problem has to do with my technique in going about it but I cannot find a way to do it that works. Thanks very much for any and all advice, it is much appriciated!
Danielle